


a shoulder to cry on

by moon932



Series: KindaTonyCentricTBH [5]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Fluff, Gen, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, If you want - Freeform, In a sense, James "Rhodey" Rhodes is a Good Bro, M/M, Natasha Romanov Is a Good Bro, Post-Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Post-Iron Man 3, Pre-Avengers: Age of Ultron (Movie), Pre-Slash, Sam Wilson Is a Good Bro, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, and Tony gets the hug, it was at at 2 am when i made this, maybe?? - Freeform, so sorry if this is bad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-16
Updated: 2021-01-16
Packaged: 2021-03-14 06:42:42
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,058
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28791165
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/moon932/pseuds/moon932
Summary: Rhodey and Tony got hitched in Vegas while they were drunk off their assess. Why is this important? It’s not really, but it’s one of Tony’s more fond memories.More fond than say, the Mandarin
Relationships: Tony Stark & Sam Wilson
Series: KindaTonyCentricTBH [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1601650
Comments: 2
Kudos: 20





	a shoulder to cry on

**Author's Note:**

> mind the tags. sorry if this a jumbled mess, i wrote this at 2 am bc i saw a prompt on pinterest and decided i wanted to write this.  
> also, this is for the person who was asking where this kind of fic was, you’re welcome. (sorry if it sucks)

It was a quiet moment then, not one usually remembered in there day to day lives. Rhodey was on leave and was able to crash onto the couch with a beer, Tony by his side. Like those rare days back in college where they watched shitty rom coms and complained about their lives over cheap beer and pizza. 

But it was different now, now they had more people. Now instead of a creaking old couch that they bought to fill a dingy apartment, or a too white sofa that felt impersonal. They were on a nicer blue one, not leather but cotton and and the Avenger plus others were piled around. Fury, strangely was there, leaning back on the arm chair with a beer in his hands. Watching everyone while sipping his scotch. 

Steve was on the other side of Tony, Natasha and Clint were squished together beside him. Bruce and a new guy, Sam Wilson, shared the love seat. Rhodey, being the sappy light wieght he was, started reminiscing on the past. 

“Okay, there was this one time when Tony and I decided we wanted to do something, y’know illegal,” Rhodey said, arm slung around said man’s shoulders as he told stories from college. “So us, in our glorious minds, decided to vandalize some shit.” Tony snorted. 

Wilson grinned, “The real question is, what did you vandalize?” He was attractive, Tony thinks distantly. The kind of natural attractiveness. He had a sarcastic personality that Tony hopes he can click with. He had a strong jaw and a goatee that wasn’t styled like his own.

He isn’t very good at that. ‘Clicking’ with someone was hard. He doesn’t know how Rhodey stayed as long as he did, maybe because he was always away for months at a time?

“A jerk’s house.” Tony said, taking a sip of his beer. “He was being a dick to both of us, so we got some spray paint and tagged his house,” He snorted, “The face he made was glorious!”

Steve shook his head at them, seeming way to big for the couch that’s supposed to fit six. But considering that Clint took up two seats by himself, and Natasha was to scary to mess with, Tony didn’t doubt that he was. Not to mention his foot was crammed under the soldier’s thigh. (Not his fault he was a cold being, and Steve ran like furnace- so really, it’s his fault.) 

“Don’t forget that time we got hitched in Vegas.” Rhodey tilted his head back and laughed, a deep belly sounding roar that always made Tony smile. It felt good to get Rhodey to laugh, when the man went off to the army, it was hard seeing him try to cope with the horrors of war. Tony took a long sip of his beer, Rhodey going on to explain that the two got hitched in Vegas in ‘01. It was a drunken affair that had Happy’s and some lesbian couple as witness.

Tony vaguely remembers why they did it. Some sleazy snob was harassing a lesbian couple and trying to get into a threesome. Tony being the idiot everyone claimed he was, started hitting on said dude. Said dude was disgusted and called all homosexuals Sins of God (yes, capitalization is necessary) and should burn. Rhodey over heard and proclaimed he and Tony were married.

Thus them getting drunk married to help a lesbian couple get away from freaks. Honestly, Tony mused, why do guys think it’s so hot when girls kiss each other, but gross when guys do it? It’s not like it’s any different. 

Tony perked up when the Mandarin came up. He didn’t really want to talk about it much, rather drown it in a bottle of scotch and ice cream and forget about the whole debacle.

‘We create our own demons’ he thought bitterly. It wasn’t like he was lying, his demons just come in more physical forms. For instance, a virus that’s death rate is far higher than the success rate. 

A young boy with shaggy blonde hair flashes in his mind, Tony wonders how Harley is doing. If his mom and sister are doing well. 

“Turns out, the signal was from Miami. Florida of all places!” Rhodey exclaimed. The others laughed at the joke. Tony felt a little envious of his friend, when Rhodey tells the story they all are engaged, when he tells it... His eyes flicker to Bruce for a short moment, he seemed to be nodding along to the story like he knew it. Tony felt his smile come the slightest bit strained. Temperament, he reminded himself. 

Tony peeled at the label of his beer. He’s been sober for a while, barely taken a gulp of his beer. He much rather have a Coke or Gatorade, but the beer was light and tasted like five dollars. The brand was Buzz Light, he snorted to himself. Of course Clint got buzz light, the cheap ass. 

“I think i’ve heard this story before?” Bruce asked, fiddling with his glasses. Tony always found it endearing, that the man who was so afraid of his own shadow, would show obvious tells. Then again, out of all of them, him and Natasha have been raised to fake tells and put on a show. Maybe that’s what bonded them.

Or hard vodka that only the two of them can keep hold of. 

“I tried to tell you. But you fell asleep and claimed ‘you weren’t that kind of doctor.’” Tony laughs, shrugging in a ‘what can you do?’ sort of manner. 

This raised alarms in Wilson’s head though. Even as he chuckled along with the rest of the group, he knew how important stuff like this was.

Bruce may not be a doctor, but wasn’t Tony his friend? Wilson tilted his head as he observed Tony. No doubt the man was pretty, it didn’t help that he wasn’t hard on the eyes either. Sam could admit to seeing an attractive person, but there was a certain, doll like essence to the billionaire. Especially when he noticed the slightest strain to the smile. 

Sam is a PTSD counselor, he knows the signs well. But Tony, Tony was probably one of the best hiders of it. His persona was big and grandeur, always drawing your attention away from the real thing. Sam drank some of his Buzz Light, Tony was a society darling. He thought with a melancholy clarity. His whole life has been masks and hidden secrets, a life so big that he doesn’t seem real. Sam paused at that thought.

That’s where Natasha and Tony were different. You see, Natasha has hidden in the shadows, always keeping one personality and character and for specific things. Right now, she was Nat, the bad ass and match maker of the group. 

Tony’s personality was all amped up, he was a loud mouth and sarcastic. A playboy philanthropist, and the more Sam thinks about it. This is the first time he’s seen the billionaire quiet. He was like a show toy, brought out to be played with, but never put back up. Sam watched him, tucked into the Colonel’s side and feet buried under Steve’s thigh.

How many nights has he stayed awake not because of long days in lab, but because he knew what awaited him in his dreams?

It wouldn’t be until a couple hours later, everyone was knocked out (Fury left when movies started, long trench coat swooshing behind him.) when Sam realized he wasn’t the only one awake. Silently getting up from across him was Tony. The man seemed to have done this before, grabbing a pillow for Rhodey to hold, because the man used him as his personal teddy bear, and tapped twice on Steve’s shoulder. Sam watched the interaction with tired eyes. But he saw the way Tony made his steps purposely light, but loud enough to be heard. The man stretched as he walked towards the kitchen. Sam, after some deliberation, got up and followed.

In the kitchen, Tony was humming quietly under his breath. White hoodie dimmed his arc reactor, he was gathering all the pizza, putting it into one box. “Wise men say only fools rush in, but baby I can’t help, falling in love with you,” He sung under his breath, opening the fridge, washing the kitchen in warm golden light. 

“Didn’t know you were an Elvis fan,” Sam said. Tony flinched a little bit, turning around to find Sam leaning in the door way. 

The two stood there for a minute, Tony eye brow furrowed slightly and Sam’s head tilted to the side. “I don’t think anyone hasn’t heard of Elvis. If they haven’t, they are living under a rock.” Tony said, shutting the fridge with his hip as he walked to the sink. 

Sam nodded his in agreement, it’d be hard to live in the twenty-first century and not know Elvis Presley. The two stood in silence for a minute, Tony gently washing dishes as Sam watched.

It was weird, seeing a larger than life person doing the dishes. But Sam thinks it’s methodical. Rinse, wash, rinse, set aside, repeat. The water was burning hot, and yet Tony didn’t wear any gloves. Sam doesn’t know if the man doesn’t care, or just doesn’t notice. 

The silence grew awkward for Tony. Even at a young age he didn’t like the silence much, as it meant no one was home. Or something was wrong, or something happened. In his life, silence was always accompanied by sadness, fear, or loneliness. The sound of the sink was the only thing keeping Tony from going insane with the silence. 

“What you said back there,” Wilson started. Tony glanced at him, the man was shrouded in darkness. But he was radiating ‘It’s okay, you can talk to me’ energy. Tony shifted, running the soapy sponge along the sink, cleaning all the grime from the dishes that were piled in and washed. “Tony, Banner may not be that kind of doctor, but I am.” 

Tony froze.

Everything in him was screaming at him this was a trap of some sort. His mind running through various scenarios where Wilson uses something he says and leaks it to the press. Where he gets laughed at, or not taken seriously. (Or he falls asleep, a traitorous part of his mind whispers.)

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Sam felt sympathy, he did. Even in the dark Sam could practically feel how tense Tony was. How he started scrubbing the sink a little harder than he was earlier. 

Sam stepped forward, stopping when Tony was taught like a bow string. “I’m not a friend, I know, but man. I know when someone need a shoulder to cry on,” Sam reached out a hand to pat Tony on the shoulder, than paused before the two touched. “Just know, my door is always opened.” Tony nodded dumbly. Eyes stinging with tears.

No one has ever offered to talk.

Rhodey and him usually got drunk before any touchy feely stuff happened. None of the others were close to him, he and Natasha had monthly vodka and shit talk night, but she and Steve were busy with their own thing. As were Bruce, Clint, and Thor. Tony nodded dumbly again.

“Yeah. Yeah, I’ll- think about it.” Tony said, eyeing the other out of the corner of his eyes. Sam smiled hopefully. That’s all he could ask for right now.

He nodded. A little awkwardly he walked back to the couch. For all he was an adult, this was probably the most embarrassing walk of shame he ever had to do.

Tony stared at the vacant spot as his mind raced over what just happened. “Well shit.” He whispered. Going back to methodically washing the sink. His finger were already pruned but he couldn’t care. His mind was running in circles, trying to figure out what happened. A small part of him, the one that was still a child and hopeful about the world rose to the surface. ‘What if he just wants to help?’ It said. Tony imagined the voice as a five year old.

The thought didn’t stop him. All he could think about in response was simple. It was more scarier than knowing what ever you say would be brushed off.


End file.
